ACTFL,
November
18-20, Denver,
CO
Session title:
Foreign
Language
Standards
Videos: Still
Useful After
All These
Years
Come hear from
foreign
language
educators June
Philips of
Weber
University and
Ursula Lentz
of University
of Minnesota.
Philips and
Lentz will
speak about
how they have
used the Teaching
Foreign
Languages K-12
classroom
videos with
pre-service
and in-service
language
teachers. The
session is
Sunday,
November 20 at
10 a.m., Room
302, at the
Colorado
Convention
Center. A set
of the library
videos will be
given away as
a door prize!
Also visit
Annenberg
Learner’s
exhibit booth
for show
discounts. NCSS:
National
Council for
Social
Studies,
December 2-4,
2011
Dr. Philip
Zimbardo,
internationally
known
psychologist,
researcher,
author, and
host of
Annenberg
Learner’s
popular course
Discovering
Psychology,
will speak
about his
current
research in
psychology at
the NCSS
conference in
Washington, DC
on Friday
December 2, at
3:15 p.m. in
room 202A in
the Walter
Washington
Convention
Center.
Teachers and
educators
attending the
conference can
attend the
talk and stop
by Annenberg
Learner’s
booth in the
exhibit hall
to learn about
new series and
show
discounts.
Annenberg
Learner is
sponsoring Dr.
Zimbardo’s
talk.

Curriculum
Focus:
Astronomy

Our fascination with
astronomy
often starts
when, as young
children, we
first look up
at the moon
and the stars.
Look to the
following
Annenberg
Learner
resources for
strategies to
teach
astronomy or
if you just
want to know
more about the
awe-inspiring
subject.

Grasp
how immense
our solar
system is and
examine
evidence about
how it was
formed in Earth
and Space
Science,
session 8, “Order Out
of Chaos.”
Also look at
how children
understand the
universe in
order to
inform your
teaching.

A
Private
UniverseTeachers’
Lab offers
teachers a
great hands-on
activity to
teach students
about the
phases of the
moon.

Teachers
examine their
students’
thinking about
science
concepts such
as what causes
seasons and
why there are
lunar phases
in A
Private
Universe
Project in
Science,
workshop 1, "Astronomy:
Eliciting
Student Ideas."
Learn how to
help students
use journals
to keep track
of their
thinking.

Three
U.S.-born
scientists won
the Nobel
Prize in
physics for
overturning a
fundamental
assumption in
their field by
providing
evidence that
the expansion
of the
universe is
constantly
accelerating.

In Physics for the 21st Century,
unit 11, “Dark
Energy,”
learn more
about this
evidence and
the mysterious
“dark energy”
that may be
driving the
expansion.

Supreme Court Justices' Senate Hearing

In October
C-SPAN aired a
Senate
hearing
with Justices
Stephen Breyer
and Antonin
Scalia on the
role of judges
under the
Constitution.
They explored
a number of
topics,
including the
selection and
appointment
process.
Justice Scalia
participates
in more
conversations
on judicial
elections and
neuro-enhancement
in programs 4,
“Choosing
Justice:
Elections
& Judicial
Independence”
and 5, “A
Better Brain:
The Ethics of
Neuro-enhancement”
of Ethics
in America II.
United Protest, Divided Reasons

As
the Occupy
Wall Street
and Occupy DC
protests
spread to
cities across
the country,
we are
reminded of
similar
periods in
history when
people and
government
looked for
ways to stop
an economic
tailspin. The
multifaceted
nature of
these protests
highlights the
conflict
Americans have
about what is
best for our
economy,
environment,
and society.

Compare and
contrast the
political,
social, and
economic
climate of the
past and
present. For
example,
compare how
both the
current
administration
and Franklin
Delano
Roosevelt in
the 1930s have
handled job
stimulation.
See America’s
History in the
Making,
unit 18, “By
the People,
For the People.”

Connecting
Learning with
Special Days

Day
of the Dead/
Día de
los Muertos
(November 1-2)

Art
Through Time,
unit 6, “Death,”
shows how
different
societies
interpret
death. Make
comparisons of
practices and
beliefs about
death across
cultures and
time.
Also, read
about La
Calavera de la
Catrina by
José
Guadalupe
Posada
(Mexican,
1852–1913).
This image
has become the
icon of the
Day of the
Dead.

Monarch
butterflies
are landing in
their
sanctuaries in
Mexico in
November, just
as Mexicans
are
celebrating
the Day of the
Dead. See a
slideshow
in Spanish and
English of
practices and
artifacts
associated
with the
holiday on the
Journey
North
Web
site.
Then check out
a Día
de los Muertos
lesson
plan that
looks at
cultural
traditions of
Mexico and
makes
connections to
seasonal
changes.

Veterans Day
(November 11)

Professor
Donald Miller
gives a
personal view
as he
describes what
life was like
for soldiers
and their
families in
program 22, “World War II,”
of A Biography
of America.

Psychiatrist
Daniel Shay
connects the
experiences of
American
soldiers
returning from
war to the
return of
Odysseus to
Ithaca
following the
Trojan War in
Invitation
to World
Literature,
program 3, “The
Odyssey.”

"Postwar
Tension and
Triumph,"
program 19 of
America's
History in the
Making,
takes a look
at the
realities that
veterans faced
when they
returned home
from World War
II.

Hollywood has
used war as
propaganda
both in favor
of and against
the use of
American
troops in
foreign
conflicts. See
the role of
government and
media in how
combat films
have evolved
in American
Cinema,
program 6, "The Combat
Film."

America
Recycles Day
(November 15)

Students learn
the chemistry
of recycling
aluminum cans
and discuss
efforts to
recycle the
metal in Reactions
in Chemistry,
unit 7.6, “Recycling
Aluminum.”

Examine how
much trash our
communities
produce and
find out where
it all goes in
the
interactive, Garbage.
What are some
communities
doing to
improve the
ways they
reduce and
recycle waste?

National
French Week
(November
8-14)

The American
Association of
Teachers of
French (AATF)
has announced
the themes of
National
French Week:
Cuisine; The
Arts and Arts
and Crafts;
Science,
Technology,
and Careers;
Music and
Dance; Sports,
Games, and
Traditions.

Prepare for
French
Language Week
with these
resources:

Teaching
Foreign
Languages
K-12: A
Library of
Classroom
Practices
includes eight
diverse
classrooms
with engaging
strategies
for teaching
French.
In program 12,
“A
Cajun Folktale
and Zydeco,”
Ms. Granville
leads her
students in an
interactive
lesson on
Cajun culture
that combines
music,
storytelling,
and
agriculture.

In
program 5, “Mapping
Planet Earth,”
second graders
in Stephanie
Appel’s French
class talk
science. Watch
her as she
leads her
class through
Total Physical
Response
exercises to
learn
vocabulary,
and guides
them through
discussion on
their
knowledge of
the solar
system to
specific
continents.
She says,
“when you’re
trying to
decide what to
teach as a
world language
teacher, you
really need to
think about
what subjects
will catch the
interest of
your students
and I think
that, why not
steal the
energy they
get from
learning those
topics?”
Revisit the
early days of
the American
republic and
its diplomatic
dealings with
France and
Haiti during
their own
revolutions in
America’s
History in the
Making,
program 6, “The New
Nation.”

Geography
Awareness Week
(November
13-19)

This year‘s
National
Geographic’s
Geography
Awareness Week
theme is The
Adventure in
Your Community.
A geographic
perspective of
a community,
no matter how
big or small,
can help us
understand
that community
better.
National
Geographic is
challenging
people to
participate in
missions that
involve
activities
such as
photography
and
mapping.

Annenberg
Learner’s
resources
offer ways to
help students
understand
their
communities.
For example,
in Teaching
Geography,
workshop 3, “North
America,”
Herschel
Sarnoff
teaches his
10th-graders
at Jordan High
School in Los
Angeles how to
use geographic
information
system (GIS)
skills to map
technology’s
impact on
economic
success in
their
community.

See how
artists
interpret the
urban
experience
around the
world in Art
Through Time,
program 11, “The Urban
Experience.”
Then encourage
students to
create a
painting, map,
or collage
that
interprets
their own
urban or rural
experiences.

American
Indian
Heritage Month

The Anasazi
Indians left
nearly all of
their
possessions in
Chaco Canyon.
Learn about
the pueblos
they built in
the canyon
over 1,000
years ago and
why they might
have abandoned
them in the
interactive
Collapse: Why
Do
Civilizations
Fall?, “Chaco
Canyon.”

In Biography
of America,
program 1, “New
World
Encounters,”
Professor
Donald Miller
describes
pre-colonial
America and
why many
indigenous
groups were
overcome by
Spanish
conquistadors.

American
Passages: A
Literary
Survey,
unit 1, “Native
Voices,”
offers an
overview of
the connection
between myth,
history, and
people in
Native
American
cultures.
Black Elk,
Leslie Marmon
Silko, and
Luci Tapahonso
are
featured.

Rediscovering
Biology,
unit 6, “HIV
and AIDS,”
explores the
human immune
system and
recent
developments
in AIDS
research.
Graphics and
animations
showing, for
example,
helper T cells
and the
progression of
the HIV
infection and
AIDS accompany
the online
text and
video.

What happens
when someone
is facing his
or her death?
An
epidemiologist
with AIDS
discusses how
facing his
death and the
death of
others has
affected his
outlook and
choices in
life in Death:
A Personal
Understanding,
program 5, “Fear of
Death and
Dying.”

Notable
November
Birthdays

Marianne
Moore, American
poet (November
15, 1887)

Watch
interviews
with Marianne
Moore,
commentary,
and dramatic
readings of
her poems in
Voices &
Visions,
program 8,
"Marianne
Moore: In Her
Own Image."
She called
herself an
unromantic
poet and saw
her craft as
her job. See
the
fascinating
way she
collected
ideas from her
environment.

For additional
information on
Moore’s work
and life, see
American
Passages
unit 11, "Modernist
Portraits."

Martin
Scorsese, film
director
(November 17,
1942)

Find out how
Martin
Scorsese and
his peers
reinvented the
American film
in American
Cinema,
program 1,
“The Hollywood
Style,” and
program 9,
“The Film
School
Generation.”

Edwin
Hubble, astronomer
(November 20,
1889)Physics for the 21st Century, unit
11, “Dark
Energy,”
section 3, “Discovery
of the
Expanding
Universe,”
explains how
Edwin Hubble
gathered
information to
prove the
universe is
not static as
Einstein had
assumed years
before. Help
students
understand
this law by
usinga physical classroom with people and objects to
create a model
of an array in
space that
continuously
expands out in
all
directions.
See the
example in the
program.

Martin
Luther, theologian
(November 10,
1483) The
Western
Tradition,
program
27, "The
Reformation" Art
Through Time,
program 12, “Conflict
and Resistance”
segment on
iconoclasm
explains how
images were
used during
the
Reformation to
challenge the
authority of
the church.
Renaissance interactive

We
have two new
resources and
a blog coming
very soon!
Please keep an
eye on our Web
site,
learner.org,
for updates.

Neuroscience
& the
Classroom
looks at
research from
the field of
the mind,
brain, and
education and
its
implications
for K-12
classroom
teachers. It
will also be
useful for
school
counselors and
college-level
psychology and
child
development
courses.

Economics
U$A: 21st
Century
Edition
brings this
popular course
up to date
with new
stories and
interviews on
current
economics
topics
including the
banking crisis
and federal
deficits. The
new course
includes an
accompanying
Web site on
learner.org.

Also,
Annenberg
Learner is
starting a
blog for
teachers and
learners to
discuss topics
related to our
resources. Get
ideas for your
classroom,
engage in
thoughtful
conversations
with your
peers, and
learn, learn,
learn!

We Want to Hear From You

Please send us
topics you
would like to
see in the
next month’s
monthly update
by the 10th of
each month. We
will try to
fit in your
suggestions
when possible.
Email info@learner.org.

Print
Catalog

To
request a copy
of our
Annenberg
Learner main
catalog or our
subject
catalogs in
Science and
Math,
Humanities,
Literature and
Language Arts,
and Social
Studies,
please send an
email to order@learner.org. Be sure to
include a
mailing
address in
your request.
Thank you!

Opening
December 17,
2011, The
Annenberg
Space for
Photography
will present “Digital
Darkroom, An
Exploration of
Altered
Realities,”
featuring the
work of 17
artists from
around the
world. Compare
their images
created using
Photoshop with
more
traditional
paintings and
sculptures of
dreamscapes
and personal
fantasies by
past artists,
from
aboriginal
artists to
surrealists in
program 2, “Dreams and
Visions,”
of Art
Through Time.
The current
exhibit,
BEAUTY CULTURE,
will run
through
November
27th.

Lauren Bon and her team at the Metabolic
Studio created
a giant
liminal camera
and are taking
it on a
journey across
the U.S. The Liminal
Camera Tour
is crossing
America with
the American
flag as a
subject. From
Flag Day
6/14/11 until
Veterans Day
11/11/11, the
Liminal Camera
is shooting
locations that
are in a state
of transition
due to
devastating
events. In
each location,
including New
York City, a
large-scale
American flag
will be
present. On
Veterans Day
weekend, the
camera is
coming to
Washington DC
to photograph
veterans and
will be
available for
viewing, along
the photos
taken, on
11/12 and
11/13/11 at
the Hirshhorn
Museum of Art
on the
National Mall.
Keep up with
news and
information
about the
Annenberg
Foundation by
subscribing
to one or more
of the
Foundation
newsletters.

Distance
Learning,
Licensing, and
Sales Update

Upcoming conferences:

North Carolina
Community
College
Association of
Distance
Learning (NC3ADL),
November 6-8,
Raleigh, NCSLOAN-C,
November 9-11,
Orlando, FLACTFL,
November
18-20, Denver,
CONCSS:
National
Council for
Social
Studies,
December 2-4,
Washington, DC